Spot the Whale.

Jan 6, 2005

On a quest for the whales.

The big dive ..

Rolling hills & amazing sea views.

Woke up totally over excited at the prospect of realising a dream and seeing a whale in action. This whole town is whale & crayfish orientated (Kaikoura meaning to eat crayfish ... not Seanie though) and we were looking forward to seeing what the hype was all about.

Midday came along and we boarded the sea cat and headed out to depths of over 1400 metres off the continental shelf on route we saw albatross, seals and a lengthy insight into the habits of the sperm whale. Before we knew it, the first whale had been spotted by the boat ahead of us and we speed excitedly over just in time to catch the whales tail as it disappeared into the water on a typical 40 - 60 minute dive.

It wasn't long before the underwater microphone (techy stuff !) detected the impending return to the surface of another whale after its dive. We circled around in anticipation with everyone on board waiting to see what would happen, when suddenly a blast of water was spotted and our whale appeared. An amazing sight watching the whale for 10 minutes before it began its magnificent dive (tail up) back to the depths of the ocean on its foray for food. We were lucky enough to see the return of the first whale with the same magnificent splendour before having to return back to dry land. A great experience and highly recommended !

We returned to the town for "Fush & Chups" NZ style before heading off for a coast and cliff top walk around the penninsula. Some 4 hours later, after some magnificent views isolated beaches and lungfuls of fresh air we returned to Kaikoura for a steak & crayfish dinner (guess who ate what ?) and a well deserved nights rest.